FARC Columbian rebels release soldier & police hostages

10 hostages held in the Colombian jungle by rebel group the FARC have finally been released.

What a difference a day makes: after preparations were being made yesterday and officials not knowing whether it would happen then or tomorrow, the relatives of those captured had the best news ever.

Medics escorted the hostages - a mix of soldiers and police officers - off the Red Cross helicopters after they'd been airlifted from the jungle prison camps which had been their home for over a decade. The FARC funded its drugs cartel by kidnapping people for large ransoms from the government. It's suspected they were being about a third of all kidnappings in the country, but recently they'd changed tactics and demanded peace talks.

And former Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba, who negotiated their release is being hailed a hero. She said, "We can say that we achieved this because we did it through dialogue, and we achieved it without a drop of blood being spilled, and we achieved it with respect and because we recognised one another. And above all, we achieve it through knowing that what Colombia wants is peace and no more spilling of blood."